Medici philosopher's mystery death is solved

After 500 years, one of Renaissance Italy's most enduring murder mysteries has been solved by forensic scientists.

Ever since Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, a mystical and mercurial philosopher at the court of Lorenzo de' Medici, suddenly became sick and died in 1494, it has been rumoured that foul play was involved.

Pico's fame has faded, but he was a celebrated figure at the Medici court.

He gained notoriety when, at the age of 23, he offered to defend 900 of his opinions on philosophy and religion against all-comers.

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His subsequent tract, The Oration on the Dignity of Man, has been called the "manifesto of the Renaissance".

However, he died aged 31 - two years after Lorenzo - together with a man who might have been his lover, Antonio Ambrosini, who was also known as Poliziano.

Last July, a team of scientists from the universities of Bologna, Pisa and Lecce exhumed the two corpses and subjected them to a battery of tests.

The scientists used biomolecular technology and scanning equipment as well as DNA analysis to find a cause.

Yesterday they concluded that both men had been poisoned with arsenic, after finding a toxic quantity in their bones.

High levels of mercury and lead were also found.

Silvano Vinceti, the head of the national cultural committee that managed the exhumation, said the killers came from Pico's closest circle.

The flamboyant philosopher became an instant favourite of Lorenzo when he arrived in Florence in 1486.

Lorenzo was charmed by Pico, who was essentially a Platonic philosopher influenced by Oriental mysticism.

He became famous for his incredible memory and his knowledge of Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic and Arabic.

However, Pico's close friendship with Girolamo Savonarola, the fanatical Dominican friar, appears to have earned him the enmity of Lorenzo's son, Piero de' Medici.

The forensic scientists believe it was Piero who ordered Pico's death.

Savonarola, who was invited to Florence by Pico, repeatedly preached against the Medicis, urging Florentines to reject the excesses of the Renaissance.

Works by Botticelli and Michelangelo were burned during the "Bonfire of the Vanities" in 1497, when the monk's followers set fire to lavish furniture, mirrors, pagan books and immoral sculptures in the Piazza della Signora.

"Combining the results of our analysis with historical documents that have recently come to light, it seems Piero is the most likely culprit for the assassination order," said Mr Vinceti.

However, he added: "It was probably Cristoforo da Calamaggiore, Pico's secretary, who administered the poison. In fact, da Calamaggiore admitted later that he had given him medicine because he was sick".

Examination of Pico's remains, which have been reburied in St Mark's Church. revealed that he was well over six feet tall and burly, in direct contradiction to his portraits.

He also had a much larger skull than average. Meanwhile, Poliziano was only five feet tall.